Motorsport Memorial -

Raymond Sommer

Complete name: Raymond Pierre Sommer

Birth date: 31.Aug.1906

Birth Place: Mouzon, Ardennes (08), France

Death date: 10.Sep.1950

Death Place: Cadours, Haute-Garonne (31), France

Nationality: France

Gender: male

Age at death: 44

Event date: 10.Sep.1950

Series: Formula 2 - non-championship

Race: Grand Prix de l'Haute Garonne - II Grand Prix de Cadours

Event type: race

Country: France

Venue: Cadours

Variant: 5.536-kilometer, public roads course (1948-1958)

Role: driver

Vehicle type: car

Vehicle sub-type: single seater

Vehicle brand/model: Cooper T12 - JAP

Vehicle number: 40

Notes:

Raymond Sommer
1906 - 1950

Author: Agence Meurisse. Agence Photographique (France). Bibliothèque Nationale de France collection, public domain.

The son of Roger Sommer, a French wealthy carpet manufacturer and an aviation pioneer, Raymond Sommer was born in Mouzon, in the Ardennes department, France, in 1906. He attended a college in Manchester, England, before returning to France, working in the family business. Known for his fair play and good sportsmanship, he had been a successful boxer and a race car driver since his early twenties. In 1930 he persuaded his father to buy him a Chrysler Imperial 29-80, in which he took part in his maiden road race, from Paris to Nice. Sharing the car with Jean Delemer, in 1931 Sommer made his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans - abandon during 14th hour, due to radiator problem - and then in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, taking a remarkable third place overall.

The following year he bought an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, taking an impressive win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Because his team mate Luigi Chinetti became ill during the race, Raymond Sommer had to drive alone for almost 20 of the 24 hours on the Circuit de la Sarthe. A few weeks later, he finished second to Louis Chiron in the Circuit de Vitesse at Nice and won the Grand Prix de Marseilles at Miramas circuit.

Due to his courageous and aggressive driving style, Raymond Sommer was nicknamed by fans as "Raymond Coeur de Lion" ("Lionheart Raymond"). In 1933 he continued to race Alfa Romeo sportscars, winning his second consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans, this time with Tazio Nuvolari as team mate, and obtaining an craditable second place in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, with Henri Stoffel. Then he finished runner-up to Philippe Étancelin in the Grand Prix de Picardie at Péronne circuit, and fourth in the 1933 Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France at Linas-Montlhéry. In 1934 he joined the Officine Maserati works team finishing third in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Raymond Sommer bought an ex-works Alfa Romeo P3 in 1935, winning two races in France, the Grand Prix du Comminges at Saint Gaudens and the "Union Motocycliste Française Grand Prix" at Linas-Montlhéry. But by 1936 the car proved to be no longer competitive in international Grands Prix, against the German teams of Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz that started dominating everywhere. Sommer's greatest successes came in sportscar racing, in 1936 he won the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France at Linas-Montlhéry, then a sportscar event, sharing a Bugatti T57G with Jean-Pierre Wimille, and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with the Italian Francesco Severi in a Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A. On 12 October 1936 Sommer crossed the Atlantic Ocean to drive a 3.2-litre Alfa Romeo Tipo B in the prestigious Vanderbilt Cup, held at the Roosevelt Raceway in New York. The incomparable Tazio Nuvolari in the Scuderia Ferrari's Alfa Romeo 12C-36 4100 dominated the race, winning by nine minutes from Wimille's Bugatti T59, and his team mate Antonio Brivio, third. Raymond Sommer finished a fine fourth place.

In 1937 Sommer joined the Scuderia Ferrari, obtaining a fifth place in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in a Alfa Romeo 12C-36, and also competed in France, becoming the National champion with a Talbot T150-C sportscar. He won the Grand Prix de Marseilles, three-hour race held at Miramas circuit and the Grand Prix de Tunisie at the Carthage track. The 1938 season was unsuccessful for Sommer, although he led at Le Mans, setting the fastest lap of the 24-hour race, before the works Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring that he shared with Clemente Biondetti had mechanical failure, shortly before the end, on 219th lap. He became the French Champion once again in 1939 driving an Alfa Romeo Tipo 308, scoring an outright win in the Circuit of Angoulème and finishing second in the Coupe de Paris at Linas-Montlhéry and fifth in the French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux.

After the outbreak of World War II, Raymond Sommer was an active member and played an active part in the French Resistance. In the early years after the end of hostilities, he resumed racing, bringing out his old Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 in which he finished second in the 1946 Grand Prix de Nice. That same year, at the wheel of a Maserati 4CL, he won a number of races in France, including the Grand Prix de Marseille, the Grand Prix du Forez, the Grand Prix du Salon at Bois de Boulogne, Paris, the Circuit des Trois Villes at Marc-en-Baroeul in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, co-driving to Henri Louveau, and finally the "Coupe René Le Bègue" held in the street circuit of Saint-Cloud, Île-de-France region, beating the works Alfa Romeo 158s of Wimille and Giuseppe Farina.

He was sidelined for a while, suffering from an illness, returning near the end of 1947. Raymond Sommer became the first non-Italian to drive a Grand Prix car built by Enzo Ferrari. He was invited by the organizers to take part in the 1947 Turin Grand Prix sportscar race at the Valentino Park. He arrived to Turin without a drive and accepted the offer by the Scuderia Ferrari to drive a 2-litre Ferrari 159C, in which he astonishingly won the race. In 1948, at the wheel of the Ferrari 166SC single-seater he finished third in the Grand Prix des Nations at Genève, fourth in the Sanremo Grand Prix and third in the Italian Grand Prix, once again at the Valentino Park, Turin.

The following season Sommer remained with Ferrari, but being a great individualist, midway through the season he chose to return to his privately owned cars, as the Simca Gordini TMM11 in which he won the Grand Prix de Madrid. Then he raced a Talbot Lago T26C, setting the fastest lap in the 1950 Grand Prix de Paris at Linas-Montlhéry and even leading the 1950 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. In the first edition of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, Sommer scored three points, finishing fourth in the Grand Prix de Monaco, at the wheel of a Ferrari 125. Then he was hired by team BRM for the marque's infamous debut in the Silverstone International Trophy, on 26 August 1950. Raymond Sommer's BRM P15 MkI failed to move from the grid, due to transmission problem.

Only two weeks later Raymond Sommer lost his life in a Formula 2 race in southern France, becoming the first fatality in a Cooper car. While leading the Grand Prix de l'Haute Garonne, also titled as II Grand Prix de Cadours, held on the public roads course of Cadours, near Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, in the 1100 cm³ Cooper T12-JAP he had borrowed from John Cooper, Sommer went off the road only four laps to the end of the race and crashed into a tree. The accident was caused by sudden steering failure. Raymond Sommer died from his severe head, face and arm injuries while being taken to Cadours hospital in the ambulance. He was 44-year-old.

Shortly before his death, Raymond Sommer had been awarded the Légion d'Honneur, as France's greatest driver. An article by William Boddy, published by magazine MotorSport, issue of October 1950, read:"Sommer believed in going all-out from flag-fall, but the foregoing brief survey of his achievements provides the answer to those who said he was a wild man, over-rated and lacking experience. He certainly believed in pressing-on, which isn’t a bad idea in motor racing, but he had excellent mechanical sense, knew how a racing car should "feel" and generally was one of thw few really great drivers. His death at 44 is another blot on a miserable season and one that will not be forgotten with the passing of the years."

After his death, the Circuit des Planques, public roads course in Albi, Tarn department, southern France, was shortened and named "Circuit Raymond Sommer" in his memory. The track was abandoned in 1960 and two years later was opened the Circuit d'Albi-Le Sequestre permanent track at an airfield on the western outskirts of the town.

Sources:

Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X.
Book "Albo della Gloria: Al Piloti Caduti in Tutto il Mondo al Loro Posto di Combattimento", by Emanuele Carli, Modena, Italy, 1972, page 29.
Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4.
Book "Dei Ex Machina" by Mimmo Dei, Fucina Editore, Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, 2008, ISBN 978-88-88269-21-4.
Magazine MotorSport, issue of October 1950, page 525.
Magazine Auto Italiana, issue of 15 February 1951.
Newspaper Gazzetta di Modena (Modena, Italy), issue of Monday, 11 September 1950, article "Raymond Sommer vittima di un incidente mortale".
Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy) issue of Monday, 11 September 1950, page 4, article "Sommer: un nuovo lutto per l'automobilismo", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/ .
Website Racing Circuits, by Daniel King, page http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/racingcircuits/France/Cadours.html .
Website The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing 1934-1940 by Leif Snellman, page http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/ds.htm .
Website The 500 Owners Association, page http://www.500race.org/Men/Sommer.htm .
Website 24h-en-Piste, page http://www.24h-en-piste.com/fr/AfficherPilote.php?Pilote=2566 .
Website Circuit d'Albi, page https://circuit-albi.fr/histoire .
Website Le Mans & Formula 2 Register by Stefan Örnerdal, page http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/formula2/F250_27.htm .
Website Fastlane Forums, thread "Raymond Sommer's fatal Cadours crash wreck", page http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=954 .